After his campaign against Judea, which ended with the fall of the great city of Lachish, Sennacherib failed, or abandoned, the siege of Jerusalem. He then returned to Nineveh, his capital. Then, the Bible informs us how this powerful king met his end:
And it came to pass, as he [Sennacherib] was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sarezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. (II Kings 19:37)
Let us look at the continuation of the historical and biblical chronologies (for earlier dates, refer to the previous articles since Adam):
year 3035 (725 BCE): death of Ahaz king of Judea; his son Hezekiah succeeds him
year 3038 (722 BCE): campaign of Shalmaneser V against the kingdom of Israel
year 3042 (718 BCE): Sargon II ends the kingdom of Israel by taking Samaria, its capital
year 3049 (711 BCE): Sennacherib's campaign against Judea; siege of Lachish
(691 BCE): revolt of Babylon against the Assyrian yoke
(690 BCE): Sennacherib destroys Babylon and its temples
(681 BCE): murder of Sennacherib by his son(s); reign of his son Esarhaddon
Around 691 BCE, Babylon had rebelled against the Assyrian yoke. Sennacherib's repression was devastating. But no king before him had dared to touch, and destroy, the centers of worship of this great city. Because Babylon, due to its antiquity, benefited from an almost mythical status, with a universally recognized faith that the gods had created this city! A conqueror could take possession of the city, but did not dare to touch its places of worship. It seems that Sennacherib had undergone a religious transformation, perhaps monotheistic, which had allowed him the cultic sacrilege on Babylon. No historical document confirms this, except the Bible which hints that Sennacherib had a "personal" cult and prostrated himself in the temple dedicated to Nisroch his god. Why "his" god? Probably a religious heresy. And this may explain his murder by two of his own sons! Because the destruction of Babylon had caused a great stir throughout the empire, so they would have wanted to restablish the Assyrian compliance with their normal faith.
Of course, this biblical story found no historical echo for centuries. But, in the 19th century, archaeologists excavated the ruins of Babylon and discovered 45 clay tablets with texts in cuneiform inscriptions. These tablets tell the story of the successive reigns over Babylon and were therefore given the title of Mesopotamian or Babylonian Chronicles. But at the time of their discovery, no one knew how to decipher cuneiform writings. The first tablet was deciphered in 1887, and the second only in 1923!
What do these tablets say about Sennacherib's rule over Babylon? Here is the important excerpt:
On the twentieth day of the month of Tebetou (approximately December-January, Hebrew month of Tebeth), Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was killed by his son during a rebellion. Sennacherib reigned over Assyria for twenty-four years. After the twentieth day of the month of Tebetou, the rebellion continued in Assyria until the second day of the month of Addaru (around March, Hebrew month of Adar). On the eighteenth day of the month of Addaru, his son Esarhaddon ascended the throne of Assyria. (tablet 92502, British Museum; English source, Livius.org, text ABC 1.iii, lines 34-38)
This text deciphered in the 20th century thus confirms the biblical account that Sennacherib was indeed assassinated by one of his sons and that another son, Esarhaddon, ascended the throne of Assyria. This tablet belongs to the British Museum in London but is not on public display.
And in fact, the Bible contradicts the Babylonian chronicle on one point: the latter says that one of his sons killed his father and the Bible says two, and even names them!
Now another text confirms the Bible on this particular point: it is the annals of Esarhaddon on a clay prism discovered during the excavations of Nineveh in 1917-1918. Here is the extract:
Thereafter my brothers went mad and whatever was wicked against gods and men they did, and plotted evil; they drew the sword in the midst of Nineveh godlessly. (Prism of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, transcribed by R. Campbell, Thomson, London, Pl.2, lines 41-43)
We see therefore that Esarhaddon speaks indeed of these brothers (plural) and not of a single brother. It is then reasonable to think that Sennacherib was assassinated by two sons and not one.
Once again, the Bible is right and has been proven by archaeology.
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Albert Benhamou
Private tour guide in Israel
March 2025
